


Sunlight

by The_Ghost_King



Series: Hozier Inspired [9]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Beach Volleyball, Brazil, Crushes, Endgame Kenhina, F/M, Fluff, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Inspired by a Hozier Song, Kissing, Light Angst, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, One Night Stands, One-Sided Attraction, Open Relationships, POV Multiple, Polyamory, Post-Time Skip, Pro Volleyball Player Bokuto Koutarou, Pro Volleyball Player Hinata Shouyou, Pro Volleyball Player Hoshiumi Kourai, Pro Volleyball Player Miya Atsumu, Pro Volleyball Player Oikawa Tooru, Requited Unrequited Love, Song: Sunlight (Hozier), Sun Imagery, Symbolism, Title from a Hozier Song, Unrequited Crush, Very heavy handed and obvious, YouTuber Kozume Kenma, but my gay heart is very happy with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28093995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Ghost_King/pseuds/The_Ghost_King
Summary: Hinata Shouyou burns brighter than the sun and manymanypeople over the years have wanted to take just a single step closer to let themselves beburned.Only one of them actually holds his heart.(or everyone has a crush on Shouyou because he's the sun and painfully easy to love)
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Hinata Shouyou, Hinata Shouyou/Hoshiumi Kourai, Hinata Shouyou/Izumi Yukitaka, Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Osamu, Hinata Shouyou/Oikawa Tooru, Hinata Shouyou/Terushima Yuuji, Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Hinata Shouyou/Yachi Hitoka
Series: Hozier Inspired [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1308455
Comments: 21
Kudos: 254





	Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [emochill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emochill/gifts).



> So this is the second of two birthday fics for a friend of mine.  
> I'm a bit late because I'm a terrible planner but I tried my best, I really really hope everyone who reads this likes it.  
> (And Happy Birthday again!!)

_ I would shun the light/ share in evenings cool and quiet/ who would trade that hum of night?/ for Sunlight, Sunlight, Sunlight _

* * *

Tsukishima Kei does not like the sun. He's never been a summer kind of person, always hid away from the light, spent the days inside and the evenings relaxing under the moon's soft and never scorching glow. Listening to the cicadas and the silence only the night provides.

Tsukishima Kei does not like the sun, he's not  _ supposed to _ , and yet.

In his first year of high school, Kei meets the sun.

He's disgusted by him at first. He reinforces all of Kei’s ideas about the terrible scorching heat, about the never-ending drive willing to swallow the universe whole for a bit more fuel, about the misleading lull of warmth that really means you're about to be swallowed up, without remorse.

Kei's disgusted by Hinata Shouyou at first but he realizes soon enough that those feelings are simply born from uneasiness. Born from an inability to understand what makes another person tick.

Three months into their school year those feelings of disgust have started to waver and break apart, turning into a sick kind of admiration. The type of admiration Kei can use to flagellate himself, to let the part of his mind that is still young and in love with this stupid fucking club scream at him because Hinata Shouyou is barely 160 centimetres tall, Kei looks down on him from his 30 centimetres taller perch and yet he’s outshone every single time.

He can never obscure the sun, can’t seem to harness his own abilities to bring about a solar eclipse and at that anger broils low in his stomach.

It's even stranger to realize, painfully, slowly, with a lot of denial along the way, that this feeling that Kei's been dissolving into is nothing as plain as disgust or simple dislike.

It  _ burns _ to realize that Hinata Shouyou sets him ablaze, shines upon him and makes him brighter. It  _ hurts _ and Kei hates it and he refuses it and yet the feelings remain.

Hinata's the sun, after all. Even those who would shun him, who prefer the cool and quiet of the evenings will fall before him as he warms their skin and leads them home.

Kei thought he was above it. 

He is not.

He watches Hinata devour every aspect of volleyball he can get his hands on, watches him mould himself into someone destined for greatness, watches him become brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter, with every passing day.

Kei decides that these feelings will not linger, knows that they won't, knows that Hinata's eyes rest on someone else in a red jersey, whose eyes are constantly glued to his phone. Yet he decides, under the hot summer sun whilst eating watermelon, glancing at Hinata Shouyou from the corner of his eyes, that, for as long as these feelings may linger, he’ll allow himself to be burned.

* * *

_ But whose heart would not take flight?/Betray the moon as acolyte?/On first and fierce affirming sight/ of Sunlight, Sunlight, Sunlight _

* * *

Osamu is never going to love volleyball as much as his brother loves it. He is never going to be as ravenous and motivated as his brother is. He's accepted this, even if Atsumu hasn't yet. There's nothing to be done about it.

Just because Osamu isn't as ravenous as Atsumu, however, does not mean he isn't  _ hungry _ .

Osamu's always hungry.

In their match against Karasuno, in his second year of high school on the first day of the Spring Interhigh, Osamu's hunger switches up a gear and for once, he's just as ravenous as his brother.

Not ravenous for volleyball, not just as ravenous to win— although he hates to lose—but ravenous for one extra small orange-haired middle blocker with an insane vertical jump. Who looks at Osamu through the net like he's going to tear him apart, looks at Osamu like he's prey and Hinata Shouyou is going to devour him. Eat him up till not even a drop of blood is left.

As Hinata Shouyou blocks his spike, looking him straight in the eyes as they both fall down, Osamu realizes that he would let him. No questions asked.

He’s still coming to terms with this realisation, knocked off centre with the weight of it. With the awareness that a little monster, who plays volleyball like he eats rice, who eats like it’ll be the last meal he’ll ever have, who looks at Osamu like he's the next tasty thing on his never-ending list, might hold a bit of his heart.

It's then that Atsumu, the more dramatic twin, the idiot, points at Hinata Shouyou and declares he’ll set for him one day.

_ Oh _ , Osamu things. He's not the only one with these feelings stuck somewhere in his chest, rising up uncontrollably at the thought of Hinata Shouyou, at the realisation of him.

They're twins, it's unsurprising that they have similar tastes.

Hinata smiles at Atsumu though, and the two lock eyes and share a moment meant for only them.

Osamu is still hungry but he's not surprised by this development. Those with a ravenous appetite attract each other, Osamu was destined to fade into the background when amongst those who treat volleyball like eating rice. There's nothing more to it than that.

It stings a little though, and as he and his brother make their way to the stands, ready to watch Karasuno's match against Nekoma later, he digs into his bento with renewed vigour.

Osamu's always hungry, so when all else fails him and his brother comes out on top again, he finds himself something to eat.

He’ll be the happier twin someday.

* * *

Watching Karasuno's match against Nekoma the following day makes Osamu realize that perhaps he and Atsumu were nothing but a blimp on the shrimp's radar. Because the way he plays in this match, the way he stares at Nekoma's setter, long, hard, desperate, begging to  _ eat _ is something neither Osamu nor Atsumu could ever do to him.

He eats his food, sniffs and thinks to himself,  _ perhaps I’ll have to find something other than the sun to feed my appetite _ .

His eyes trail across the court, he's temporarily blinded by the light reflecting off of someone's glasses. Then he goes back to watching Hinata Shouyou.

They’ll meet again, next year.

* * *

_ I had been lost to you sunlight/ and flew like a moth to you, sunlight, oh, sunlight _

* * *

Tooru meets Hinata Shouyou again in Brazil. 

He's no longer the twiggy, short, 16-year-old, ferocious and constantly looking for opportunities to prove himself that he was in high school but his presence on and off the court is just as big.

On the Brazilian beach, he's taller, tanner,  _ broader _ . He calls out to Tooru with confidence, speaks to him without being shy and smiles brighter than the sun.

It's just what Tooru needs in the midst of his volleyball slump. Just what he needs when he's hit a wall and can't think of the best way to climb over it.

Shouyou drags him onto the beach, where he's like a newborn lamb, unsteady on his feet. The sand is uneven but it's forgiving, the wind is harsh and volleyball? Volleyball is  _ fun _ .

Shouyou, frustrating, ever-changing, ferocious  _ Shouyou _ is the one who made it so again. Who reminded him of all the things he used to love about his favourite sport, who reminded him of when he was bright-eyed and sweet and hadn't met Kageyama Tobio or Ushijima Wakatoshi yet.

Shouyou is brighter than the Brazilian sun on that beach. He's warmer, more comforting, makes Tooru  _ burn _ in a way he thought he'd lost.

He still  _ flies _ . Never stopped flying far past Tooru's horizons, but he's sunshine nowadays too. Fitting both parts of his name now that he's grown into his skin and is making himself comfortable amongst the sand and the hustle and bustle of Rio de Janeiro.

As they have dinner together Tooru realizes that he wants to see Shouyou grow. Wants to see him flourish into himself and become someone capable of taking the world of volleyball by storm.

He supposes it's friendly, platonic, a positive kind of uplifting as he had with Seijou. The following day he watches Shouyou wipe the sweat from his face with the bottom of his shirt, exposing miles of tan skin and strong abdominals. Tooru's mind blanks. His mouth goes dry.

Well, not as platonic as he thought.

He doesn't plan on doing anything much with it, doesn't imagine that anyone else might have picked up on it, till Shouyou's staring him down with those hooded eyes and motions for him to come closer.

Tooru goes, and he follows Shouyou through the streets of Rio, follows him to his apartment—his roommate isn't home—and through his bedroom door.

They stumble into bed together on the last night Tooru spends in Rio de Janeiro. It's the best going-away gift he could ever imagine because it's warm, sweet, and not to forget bright and hotter than the sun.

* * *

_ All the tales the same/ told before and told again/ a soul that's born in cold and rain/ knows sunlight sunlight sunlight _

* * *

Hitoka did not expect to develop something akin to feelings for Hinata Shouyou. 

It has nothing to do with Hinata, Hinata's a great guy. He's super enthusiastic, sweet, a hard worker, empathetic with a heart of gold but well he's a  _ boy _ and Hitoka had figured she was probably bisexual but it was really 99% women and feminine presenting people and 1% literally everyone else. So realizing Hinata Shouyou, a  _ boy _ , made her stomach feel all fluttery felt very out of character to her.

But hey, these things happen, and if she had to develop a crush on any guy she's glad it's Hinata.

Hinata who said, “Villager B can fight too.” Hinata who thanks her for everything she does, no matter how inconsequential. Hinata who never thinks of anything except victory, who makes her believe that, perhaps, victory is laid out in the stars for her too.

She has to admit that he's easy on the eyes too. That his smile is enough to make her day and bring her back from the edge of her anxious thoughts. His hands are always warm, his hugs never unwelcome. Always comforting, always sweet, enough to bring her in from the cold.

Hitoka knows she's named for compassion and flowers but she's never truly felt like the name fit her.

She's mousy and worries a lot. She tries to be kind but she's really just scared that people might not like her.

She doesn't feel  _ genuine _ . Doesn't feel real, or compassionate and then she'd joined the volleyball club and continued to feel like a fraud.

Not as excited as she should be, scared of the ball, worried to fail a team she barely even knows.

The guys are loud and scary and she'd been lost in all these things unable to find a place for herself among them.

Hinata had included her from the get-go, had welcomed her into his favourite sport with open arms and told her it doesn't matter if she doesn't know anything yet, because villager B can fight too, and you don't need any reason not to want to lose.

Hinata, bright as the sun, had shone his light towards her and slowly but steadily her wilting petals had stood up straight. Slowly but steadily she'd gotten the strength to stand on her own two feet. To look straight at the sun and smile, without regret.

She'd learned that perhaps compassion was a continuous act, waking up and choosing kindness over and over again, instead of something you have from birth.

Her feelings for Hinata fade over time, her eyes drawn to someone else as she knows Hinata's are too, but she doesn't mind.

A lonely dying flower, scared of the light and unfamiliar with it had learned to bloom by his side.

She’ll forever be thankful for that.

For Hinata Shouyou, her former sunlight.

* * *

_ And at last can grant a name/ To a buried and a burning flame/ As love and its decisive pain/ Oh my sunlight, sunlight, sunlight _

* * *

Izumi Yukitaka doesn't realise that he's been in love with Shou-chan till they meet again in high school, in the same gymnasium as their first and final middle school match. However, this time Shou-chan walks onto centre court, the King by his side ready to fly and defeat Miyagi's champions.

Yukitaka doesn't realise what the fluttering in his stomach indicates till he watches his close friend, so close to reaching a place he's dreamt of for as long as they've known each other. Shou-chan is moving up in the world, finding his way in competitive volleyball with a strong setter by his side and Yukitaka has to stop himself there because he's not  _ jealous _ , right? Or is he?

Jealous of the people standing near Shou-chan on the court, clapping him on the back and being met with that sunshine smile, which has always been enough to make Yukitaka's knees weak.

Shou-chan's always so warm, so eager to win. Ferocious in his drive and scarily intense when things he cares about are at stake. Yukitaka had always admired that. Figured it Shouyou’s recklessness made him nervous too and that's why his stomach felt unsettled every time Shou-chan would smile at him in gratitude or hound him for another toss.

Watching Shou-chan run around the court, showing off his athletic prowess for all the world to see, him and his team slowly chipping away at  _ the _ Shiratorizawa, makes all those lingering feelings come back up again.

_ That must've been love huh _ , he thinks to himself.

He's going to keep it to himself, the feelings aren't strong enough, not anymore, to inconvenience Shou-chan with. Although Shou-chan would never feel inconvenienced. He's soft, gentle and warm like the sun attached to his name and well, Yukitaka is nothing like that.

All he can do is name feelings he used to have, feel a little entitled to the sunshine smile from a boy he used to love and watch this same boy shine. No longer a sun hidden from the rest of the world, instead shining brighter and brighter so he’ll one day turn into a supernova, blinding everyone around him with his light.

Karasuno wins the match, Shou-chan smiles so wide, so bright it hurts Yukitaka's eyes.

He's going to continue watching Shou-chan fly, all the way to Nationals and beyond.

He’ll watch the sun even though at times it might hurt his eyes because the warmth is always worth it.

* * *

_ All that was shown to me sunlight/ was something foreknown to me, sunlight, oh sunlight _

* * *

Terushima Yuuji is generally known as a bit of an asshole womanizer who likes to have fun.

He's actually a raging bisexual—which most people don't know—and knows when to get serious. 

He's good at volleyball, and he knows he's good and well, that means that he's at least a little popular with the ladies. The ones that don't like him make it more exciting. He likes it when they play hard to get because if he’s charming just right he tends to get their numbers anyway.

So when he sees a pretty girl, with long dark hair and a beauty mark near her mouth, glasses perched beautifully on a delicate nose. Well, he just  _ has _ to have her number, no questions asked.

She says no, tries to get away but he knows if he persists just a little more he might just get a number, or get more of that sweet rejection that he doesn't get all too often.

He doesn't expect some random shorty to come and get her but he's inconsequential so Yuuji shoves him out of the way, focusing on the pretty girl again.

The little guy must want his attention real bad because he steps between Yuuji and his future girlfriend  _ again  _ and this time Yuuji's planning to completely ignore him and hope he goes away but the boy  _ jumps _ . He practically jumps higher than Yuuji is tall and his shirt reads ‘Karasuno high school’, their opponent for tomorrow. 

Yuuji lets them go, starstruck. 

They’ll be playing that little guy's team tomorrow, they're going to win and have fun and maybe Yuuji will get his number instead.

* * *

Yuuji's team does not win but they  _ do _ have fun. He does not get the tiny guy's number but he does get his name.

Hinata Shouyou is a shining sun on the court. Performing seemingly impossible feats like they're normal. He blazes, and burns and Yuuji is  _ exhilarated _ by him. 

He wants to know more about him, learn him inside out, how he moves and breathes and how he gets that ferocious appetite. 

How he turns his eyes into blazing scopes that see into his opponents’ soul and right through them.

Yuuji wonders fleetingly if Hinata Shouyou might feel as warm against him as he looks. Might taste as sweet and burning as he appears.

If Hinata Shouyou might burn him if he were to ask.

Although Yuuji knows he’ll never find out. He's still blessed by those few moments on the court basking in sunlight and hoping that one day, perhaps, this same sunlight might shine on him again.

* * *

_ Oh, and these colours fade for you only/ Hold me, carry me slowly, my sunlight _

* * *

Akaashi Keiji and Bokuto Koutarou have loved each other practically since the moment they met. 

Keiji once called them ‘the protagonists of the world’, although it took him a while to admit that. 

He calls Koutarou his star and is proud of his achievements now that he's become ‘just an ordinary ace’ able to hit any ball. Keiji's always been proud of Koutarou even when he was still going through his volatile mood swings in high school and let them drag him down.

They fit together well, slot together like perfectly shaped jigsaw pieces. 

There's only one person both of them have liked who isn't the other.

He's small, orange-haired, excitable and brighter than the sun. He's also _hungry_ for improvement, hungry for _more_ and well Koutarou and Keiji want to feed him.

It's funny how the two of them developed their small crushes on Hinata Shouyou independently but ultimately liked him for the same reasons.

Hinata Shouyou first truly pinged on both their radars during Nationals. He'd already been a little greedy monster before then but on the National stage, he shone brighter than he had before.

Keiji's interest is piqued from Karasuno's very first match. Where Hinata Shouyou is different again from how he was during their last summer camp. He's more aware, makes intelligent decisions and although he's not as good or well-rounded as Koutarou yet Keiji can see glimpses of that same stardom in his movements. In his approach for every spike, in his awareness of the court.

He and Koutarou are already dating by then and this strange, warm, admiration in his stomach appears like an upset. Like something he shouldn't be feeling, something he shouldn't be thinking about.

He mentioned it to Koutarou that night and the following day after Karasuno had fought ferociously against Inarizaki and eaten them whole, Koutarou had come to him. They'd held each other and Koutarou'd said, “I understand Keiji and I don't mind.”

* * *

Neither of them brings up these far away lingering feelings again. There's no future for them. They know who Hinata watches even if he doesn't know it himself yet and well, once they graduate Hinata Shouyou fades from their minds. They have each other, and that's more than enough.

* * *

Six years have passed when Hinata Shouyou walks into the MSBY Black Jackals tryouts. Six years have passed since Koutarou saw this feral little monster devour the court and now he's here. Older, broader, tanner. Warmer than the sun itself, brighter than it too.

He steps onto the volleyball court and is immediately the brightest light in the room. Stable, balanced, never taking a knee. Well-rounded without a single flaw, just endless ways to get stronger.

Koutarou watches him, this new Hinata Shouyou, this phoenix risen from the ashes of his Nationals defeat and he texts Keiji without a single thought.

> **You** (10:23): My old disciple showed up to tryouts today...
> 
> **K** **eiji** (10:24): You can take him home if you want (and he does too).
> 
> **You** (10:25): We’ll be there. I love you 
> 
> **Keiji** (10:26): I love you too <3

Back home in their shared apartment, Akaashi Keiji's face is heated and his heartbeat fast. He wonders who Hinata Shouyou might be now, how  _ good _ he could be now if Koutarou wanted to bring him home.

* * *

And bring him home he does.

Hinata Shouyou is still the sun. Brighter than before, hotter, but still endlessly kind. Tender with his touch, comforting with his words.

He tastes sweet, like honey.

Touch soft, like rose petals.

He's with them for nothing more than a month or two, a month or two in which Atsumu is incredibly jealous and in which they wonder a little bit about a certain cat but Shouyou—he's Shouyou now—doesn't mention anything when he touches them.

Doesn't mention anything when they kiss.

Until he does, and they let him go without a problem.

His brightness lit up the gold of their relationship till it glittered but it will glitter again even when they're no longer basking in the sun.

* * *

_ Each day you'd rise with me/ Know that I would gladly be/ The Icarus to your certainty/ Oh my sunlight, sunlight, sunlight _

* * *

Hoshiumi Kourai is a Little Giant. He's a Little Giant but he's not the sun.

Kourai meets the sun on the court like he meets everyone else important to him.

They'd seen each other before, locked eyes, heard of each other but they do not  _ meet _ until they reach that volleyball court.

Till they're separated by nothing but a net and will prove themselves.

Kourai knows he's better than Hinata Shouyou, knows that he blazes brighter, that his figure is more imposing, that he's small but the biggest player on this court. Unavoidable.

Yet Hinata Shouyou, with nothing but newly fledged skill and a formidable setter, is  _ hungrier _ than him.

He looks at Kourai like he's a meal and he's waiting to start picking him apart. To start ripping the flesh from his bones and devour everything he's ever done to make it his own.

Crows are omnivores but out of all of Karasuno’s players Hinata Shouyou is the most omnivorous of all.

* * *

Kourai does not get the chance to properly beat the sun.

The sun beats himself first. Burns so bright he burns himself out.

He falls. He gets back up. Falls again.

There's nothing more to it.

Karasuno loses, as Kourai knew they would, but this victory is a little hollow and very  _ very  _ cold.

* * *

He waits six years— _ six years— _ to stand across the net from the sun again.

Hinata Shouyou is still shorter than him, but he's broader. He's tanner too. This tricky little receiver that keeps deceiving him into spiking his way, that keeps jumping higher, reaching the top  _ faster _ , staring hungrily still.

Kourai's reminded of that very first match against the sun.

They grin at each other, Kourai's stomach flutters. 

He'll throw himself into volleyball, throw himself into practice and improvement so that the next time he stands across from Hinata Shouyou again he'll win.

No questions asked.

* * *

_ Strap the wing to me/ Death trap clad happily/ With wax melted, I'd meet the sea/ Under Sunlight, sunlight, sunlight _

* * *

“Shouyou-kun, I'll toss to ya one of these days,” are the words of Atsumu's very first love confession. The person on the receiving end, however, does not seem to catch on to what they are. Atsumu follows it up with a declaration to crush him and his team at the next Interhigh, turning his back on the victors to stay in character. 

His words are a love confession none-the-less.

Just his kind of love confession as he reaches for the scorching sun, hoping he'll be understood instead of burned.

He beats Shouyou and his team at the next Spring Interhigh and he keeps up with Karasuno a little bit the year after. Watches them reach Nationals again and make their way to being third place in the nation.

He's expecting Shouyou to come and join him in the V.League afterwards but he doesn't.

Tobio becomes a professional volleyball player and Hinata Shouyou disappears off the face of the earth.

Atsumu's been reaching for the sun, chasing him ferociously, without ever getting tired, like eating rice.

The sun remains just out of reach.

* * *

When he talks to Osamu about his problems nothing comes of it. His brother just smiles and says, “Well, I guess I'll be the happier twin.” Atsumu hits him over the head and the only reason they don't break the whole shop down is that Atsumu's learned a little bit of restraint in the past years.

Not enough restraint, however, for him to act normally when six years after his declaration to toss for him, Hinata Shouyou shows up at MSBY Black Jackals tryouts.

He's grown a bit taller. He's tan and muscular but those aren't the first things Atsumu notices. The first thing Atsumu notices about this new, improved Hinata Shouyou is his  _ confidence _ . It pours out of him, exudes from him with every step.

He stands on the court like it's  _ his _ and he belongs there and after Atsumu watches him play he realizes that Shouyou  _ does _ .

Compared to the sixteen-year-old he met six years ago the man in front of him is the brightest star in the galaxy, ready to explode and blind them with his sheer skill.

It makes him a little hungry and he decides then that waiting for Hinata Shouyou, to keep a promise, was a good idea.

* * *

He takes that back less than a week later when Shouyou shows up to practice in Bokkun's shirt. Shrugging it off when asked about it, and not deigning anyone (read: Atsumu) with an answer. Bokkun's the one who tells him that Shouyou's entered his and Akaashi's relationship for now.

All it does is make Atsumu reach for the sun more.

* * *

Atsumu ends up falling out of love with the sun, slowly. 

The sun’s rays are still comfortable and warm but no longer mesmerizing.

Shouyou still burns the brightest out of them all, but Atsumu's fine with watching him be happy. Holding hands with some guy in an old-looking Nekoma jersey, smiling at him like he holds the world in his eyes.

It hurts to watch that from afar and know he’ll have that look directed at him at first, but the sting lessens over time.

Atsumu learns to bask in the sun without wanting more.

Learns to bask and only bask with no ulterior motives.

* * *

_ Oh your love is sunlight, oh, your love is sunlight, but it is sunlight _

* * *

Kenma falls in love with Shouyou slowly, but he's hooked from the start.

It's like starting a new game and thinking you've got it all figured out and then the rival character has a sudden power-up and the story changes and you have to try and fix the puzzle all over again.

That first time they play against each other when Shouyou soars above his head and slams the ball right past him, looking Kenma in the eyes on his way down. That's the start of it all.

The summer training camp where Shouyou starts looking at the ball and chasing any opportunity to practice is when his feelings grow stronger.

They text in between these moments. Send each other inconsequential messages but it's not the same as standing on the same court in the same gym in a match, even though it won't be game over when it's finished.

Kenma's cat-like in his behaviours and like any good cat he enjoys his time in the sun, basking in it and letting it warm him up. Touched by gentle rays and gentler heat.

That's what Shouyou's like too but with the extra feelings attached.

Kenma follows Shouyou with his eyes, tries to find what makes him tick, hoping that when the magic stops his feelings will too.

“I want to play a match that's game over when one of us loses,” Kenma declares, and it's as much a challenge as it's a declaration of defeat. When they win, and he's ripped Shouyou's wings from his back nothing interesting about him will be left and maybe Kenma can finally let these unrequited feelings go.

Kenma watches Shouyou, tries to figure him out and figure out the best way to tear him down. Like Shouyou's the final boss in a game and it will finally end.

Finishing a game is the saddest thing of all, but you can move on from sadness and disappointment so perhaps crushing Shouyou in a match and the subsequent sadness will help him overcome these pesky feelings.

Will give him his freedom back, so he can bask in sunlight without a single stray thought, enjoy his company without wondering what his lips taste like, or if his touch is gentle, or if he kisses with the same enthusiasm as he does everything else.

* * *

In the second set of Kenma's match against Shouyou, where it's game over if they lose Lev scores Nekoma's 16th point.

Kenma isn't tempted to look at Shouyou across the net even once, even when he knows Shouyou is staring at him. Looking through him with those bright eyes.

Kenma does not feel the need to turn and look back.

It's both devastating to turn away from the sun, hurts somewhere deep in his chest, but it's also satisfying. Just a little bit, to know that he's got Shouyou all figured out.

Regardless of how disappointing it is.

_ Stay interesting _ , he thinks his back turned to Karasuno's side of the court.

Shouyou had promised he would. Kenma knows that this is a promise he won't be able to keep.

* * *

“Open!” Kageyama shouts across the court. The ball goes up for the centre, for  _ Shouyou _ , in a high third tempo arc. Slow, easily blockable and yet.

Shouyou's face lights up in a way Kenma's never seen before. He smiles, feral and wide. Secures his run-up distance and  _ flies _ . Higher than Kenma thought he could, from above the blockers. This spike is  _ slow _ when speed is supposed to be Shouyou's weapon. It's speed and an ability to jump really well, without speed the blockers will follow and he’ll get caught up, right? Right.

But even though the ball doesn't fully connect, Shouyou still manages to tip it over the blockers scoring his team a point.

_ Stay interesting _ .

It's an open toss again soon after that. Slow but Shouyou  _ jumps _ .

Higher than before and Kenma? Kenma's the first to fall down, the ball going right over his hands.

They switch Sou in.

There's a desperate part at the back of his mind pleading for Shouyou to stop but his quickly beating heart, the blood rushing through his veins, the electricity making the hairs on his entire body stand straight up want Hinata Shouyou to keep going.

Shouyou's never acted in any ways that Kenma can predict, so he barges straight ahead breaking free from the cage Kenma's trying to put him in.

_ A demon and a demon _ .

They lose the match,  _ game over _ , and as Kenma lays panting on the court telling his teammates and Shouyou that he had fun he realises that this is a love that will not fade.

He’ll love Shouyou, will be  _ in love _ with Shouyou perhaps for eternity because Shouyou never stops being interesting.

Kenma doesn't really want him to.

* * *

Shouyou falls onto the court during his next match against Kamomedai. He buckles under his own weight, benched and carted off to hospital.

All Kenma can do is hand him his tablet. Give him something to watch the game so he's still on the court even when he's quickly being rushed away from it.

Karasuno loses, and Kenma's heart breaks for Shouyou, just a little bit.

* * *

Two months after Shouyou returns to Japan from Brazil he shows up at Kenma's house.

His clothes are rumpled, his hair dishevelled but his eyes burn with the same intensity as always. The same intensity that's made Kenma's heartbeat speed up since he was seventeen.

Tonight the look in his eyes gives Kenma something akin to hope.

* * *

“I'm in love with you,” Shouyou says, steady, strong, confident, “I'm in love with you and I've been for a while but I didn't figure it out until recently and—”

Kenma decides then to interrupt his sunlight with a kiss.

It's warm, hot,  _ sweet  _ like honey.

They stumble into his house, fall over each other, laugh. Make their way onto the bed.

Kenma is set ablaze by Hinata Shouyou that night, burned to a crisp by divine sunlight.

He basks in the sun, a content cat, as the sun basks in him.

* * *

_ Sunlight, sunlight, sunlight, sunlight, sunlight _

* * *

**Bonus** :

Kuroo had set this up for them. World-famous Kodzuken and V.League newbie Hinata Shouyou, ‘close friends’ catching up again on live stream whilst playing a friendly game of Mario Kart.

Kuroo's made two mistakes in setting this up.

The first being: saying he wants Kenma and Shouyou to play Mario Kart (Kenma will indulge him but he's not liable for whatever happens).

The second being: Wanting it to be a  _ live stream _ instead of a pre-filmed video.

Three seconds into their game of Mario Kart their thighs are touching. By the time the last race rolls around Kenma's practically in Shouyou's lap, his playing not impeded at all and looking like he's sat in the most comfortable spot in the world.

His back pressed to Shouyou's front and Shouyou's arms wrapped around him. He looks like the cat that got the canary and when Kuroo, in all his single glory, pouts from behind the camera Kenma's grin turns a little feral.

Kenma, inevitably, wins the tournament. Where he loses, however, is the game of truth or dare they play afterwards.

It's childish, and not content he'd normally make but Shouyou'd been on board and Kenma can't deny him.

They'd let his fans submit truths or dares and Kuroo'd printed a bunch of them out, without telling Kenma nor Shouyou which ones they were, and thrown them in two separate hats.

It's tame at first, a question about where they met here, a handstand there nothing they have to worry about.

The dare that follows seems easy, but looks can be deceiving.

A staring contest, whoever blinks first has to choose dare for the following round as well.

Kuroo steps from behind the camera, a familiar face on Kenma’s channel, and referees.

They stare deep into each other's eyes and soon Kenma forgets they're playing a game at all.

Mesmerized by the warmth of Shouyou's eyes, by the flecks of gold amongst the molten amber. Both of them leaning in closer and closer, slowly but steadily till their noses touch and they're barely breathing.

Their lips curl up in a smile at the same time. Neither cares about the camera, they'd discussed publicity and making their relationship public before, this isn't something to worry about.

Instead, they close the last bit of distance between them. Simultaneously closing their eyes as Kuroo sighs in the background.

This is love, Kenma knows.

Sweet as nectar and warm and comforting like the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> [ _Oh your love is Sunlight, but it is Sunlight_](https://youtu.be/PELeEo33JXs)
> 
> [ My Twitter](https://twitter.com/The_Gh0st_King)


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